Program Overview

MFA in Creative Writing

The MFA degree in Creative Writing is a two-year program that provides a combination studio/academic course of study. Students receive critical feedback on their poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in writing workshops, scrutinize aspects of genre in special-topics classes, and investigate larger theoretical and historical contexts for creative work in literature, rhetoric, writing, and linguistics courses. The MFA program culminates in a creative thesis comprised of a book-length manuscript of original creative work.

Program Details

• The program is fully funded. MFA students work as teaching assistants, writing center tutors, and instructors (of both composition and creative writing) in exchange for a stipend and tuition waiver.
• Additional financial support is available for travel, professional development, and manuscript submission.
• The graduate students in English organization, area study groups, and other activities draw students together as an intellectual and social community with shared passions and aspirations.

Current MFA Students

• Kaylee Arndt: Teaching Assistant, Victorian Literature, Medieval Literature, Romantic Poetry, Narrative Poetry, Rural Literature
• Michael Emmanuel: Teaching Assistant, African American Literature, Migration, Immigration, Memory, Identity, Christianity, Poetry and the Community
• Veronica Fletcher: Teaching Assistant, Feminist Theory, Gender Studies, Southern Studies, Folklore, Postmodern Literature, Persona Poetry
• Jasmine Flowers: Teaching Associate, African American literature, Southern literature, Mixed media poetry, Prose poetry, Surrealism, Dadaism, Modernism, The Harlem Renaissance, Black Arts Movement, African American Vernacular English, Spirituality and the occult, Folklore and mythology, Christianity, African Diaspora Religions
• Max Hunt: Teaching Associate
• Jacob Lietz: Teaching Associate
• Iris Loehr: Teaching Associate, Place Studies, Appalachia, the Uncanny, the Gothic, Vampires, Philosophy, Women’s Literature, Romanticism
• Maryam Malik: Teaching Associate, Displacement and Diaspora Poetics; Mother-Daughter Narratives; Memory, Identity & Place; Writing-Center Practices; Fragmentation & Phenomenology of Absence; Solitude, Grief, & the Poetics of Silence; Digital Humanities in Contemporary Poetry; Philosophy; 20th-Century Literary Movements; Modern and Contemporary Art Movements; Critical Approaches to Literature
• Alexandra Persad: Teaching Assistant, Female Identity, Emotional Detachment, Girlhood, Contemporary Literature, Romanticism
• Cora Schipa: Teaching Assistant, Contemporary poetry and fiction, memoir, gender and sexuality, body studies, Reproductive Justice, feminism, girlhood, generational trauma, the American South, memory, violence, nature

How to Apply

For Consideration in Round 1 (no fee)

• Create a single PDF containing the following:
  • creative writing sample of your choosing, consisting of no more than twenty-five pages of fiction or creative nonfiction, or fifteen poems;
  • a statement of purpose/letter of intent including your name, phone, and email.
• Submit your application to our Google Form (Google account required):
  • applications open September 15 and close December 1
  • applicants who wish to be considered in multiple genres should send separate applications for each genre.
• Notifications for round 1 will be emailed by January 1. Applicants who are finalists will be invited to submit a full application through the Graduate School, including paying the application fee.

For Consideration in Round 2

• A full application, including a $60 fee ($75 for international students), is due to the Graduate School by January 15.
• This application will also include:
  • online Graduate School Application
  • statement of purpose
  • transcripts for all colleges and universities previously attended
    • to be considered, applicants to the MFA program must have completed a minimum of 18 credit hours in upper-level (300+) English courses;
    • applicants must have obtained a bachelor’s degree from a college or university accredited by the appropriate regional accrediting agency, recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). A non-U.S. degree must be equivalent to a bachelor’s degree from the United States and must be granted by a recognized or accredited foreign institution;
  • three letters of recommendation
  • a critical writing sample of up to twenty pages with works cited
  • a creative writing sample of up to twenty-five pages of fiction or creative nonfiction or fifteen poems;
  • copies of GRE scores (OPTIONAL);
  • international students are required to demonstrate English proficiency as stipulated by the Graduate School, which may involve submitting either TOEFL or IELTS scores.

Events

1. Creative Writing Series: Karen Parkman
   • Date: Monday, February 9, 2026
   • Time: 7:00 pm EST
   • Location: John C Hodges Library
2. Creative Writing Series: Gabrielle Bates
   • Date: Monday, March 2, 2026
   • Time: 7:00 pm EST
   • Location: John C Hodges Library

Information

• The MFA program in Creative Writing is a two-year program that provides a combination studio/academic course of study.
• The program is fully funded, with MFA students working as teaching assistants, writing center tutors, and instructors in exchange for a stipend and tuition waiver.
• Additional financial support is available for travel, professional development, and manuscript submission.
• The graduate students in English organization, area study groups, and other activities draw students together as an intellectual and social community with shared passions and aspirations.